Mecklenburg coronavirus cases surpass 3,500 total. County reports 7 new deaths

Mecklenburg County reported seven additional deaths related to the coronavirus Wednesday, for a total of 86 since the local outbreak began in mid-March.

The county also reported 151 new positive test results for COVID-19, bringing that total to 3,530.

Statewide, the Department of Health and Human Services said 24,628 positive lab tests for COVID-19 have been reported by Wednesday morning, 488 more than on Tuesday.

DHHS had reported the state’s highest one-day increase on Saturday, when 1,107 new cases were reported. Despite that, the seven-day rolling average of new cases has trended downward since Friday.

Twenty-eight additional deaths put the state’s total at 794 on Wednesday. Hospitalizations also rose from 621 Tuesday to 702 Wednesday, continuing a gradual upward trend over the past two weeks.

Mecklenburg COVID-19 update

As of May 25 — the last date demographic data was publicly available — county coronavirus data show:

▪ An average of about 70 people with lab-confirmed coronavirus infections were hospitalized at acute-care facilities in the past week. Those numbers reflect an increase over the past two weeks, according to Mecklenburg health officials.

▪ An average of 7.4% of people who were tested were positive, showing a slight increase over the last 14 days, health officials say. The figure includes only COVID-19 tests conducted by Atrium Health and Novant Health.

▪ Round 2 in 3 cases have met the criteria to be released from isolation.

▪ About 3 in 4 people diagnosed with COVID-19 locally were adults ages 20 to 59 years old.

▪ About 1 in 8 people diagnosed were hospitalized due to their illness. People age 60 or older were more likely to need hospital care compared to younger people with coronavirus.

This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 12:13 PM.